Self-confessed hitman Vincent Muscat will testify in a case filed by brothers Robert and Adrian Agius and their associate Jamie Vella, challenging the presidential pardon granted to him.

Muscat has named the trio as suppliers of the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

Along with Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, other witnesses named by lawyers for the Agius brothers - known as Ta' Maksar - and Vella include lead investigator superintendent Keith Arnaud, a representative from the Office of the President as well as the chairman of the board which conducted the public inquiry into the journalist’s assassination. 

Witnesses’ names emerged in court on Thursday when the Agius siblings and Vella were escorted to the first hearing in constitutional proceedings.

They are claiming that their fundamental rights were breached when law enforcement targeted them on the basis of information given to police by Muscat.

This new case consists of a three-pronged challenge focusing primarily on the presidential pardon that was granted to Muscat, rather than others.

Robert Agius, left, and his brother, Adrian, right, also known as the Tal-Maksar brothers.

Brothers claim pardon ensures facts remain unknown

Applicants’ lawyers are claiming that the pardon was green-lighted by a cabinet of ministers who had every interest in ensuring that certain facts about the journalist’s assassination remained undisclosed. 

Muscat is currently serving a 15-year prison term after confessing to his role in the Caruana Galizia assassination.

In exchange for that confession and all the information that came along with it, Muscat was pardoned for his involvement in the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop who was gunned down inside a Birkikara garage complex.

Muscat told police that he had witnessed that drive-by shooting as he sat inside the car along with two other alleged hitmen named as Vella and George Degiorgio. 

Adrian Agius stands accused of commissioning that crime. 

The Agius brothers and Vella also stand accused of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia in the October 2017 car explosion allegedly triggered by a phone message sent by George Degiorgio while his brother Alfred and Muscat himself kept a lookout from a vantage point overlooking the journalist’s Bidnija home.

Lawyers representing the Caruana Galizia and Chircop families filed requests to intervene in these fresh constitutional cases filed by the Agius brothers and Vella.

Those lawyers were also present at the first hearing before the First Hall, Civil Court presided over by Mr Justice Robert G. Mangion who upheld those requests and authorized the Caruana Galizia and Chircop heirs to intervene in the proceedings.

Their legal representatives will be filing separate replies to the applicants’ claims after being granted by the court twenty days to do so.

When mapping the case, Mr Justice Mangion was informed by the applicants’ lawyer Alfred Abela that the main witnesses they intended to summon were chief investigator Arnaud and Muscat. 

A copy of the pardon granted to the self-confessed hitman would be presented in court by an official from the President’s Office, while the report drawn up by the three judges conducting the Caruana Galizia public inquiry would be requested for presentation by the chairman of the board. 

The court scheduled the next sitting for January when the parties are expected to put forward arguments on preliminary pleas. 

Lawyers Alfred Abela and Rene’ Darmanin assisted the applicants.

State Advocate Chris Soler, together with lawyers Maurizio Cordina and Miguel De Gabriele represented the respondents.

Lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Jason Azzopardi represented the Caruana Galizia family.

Lawyers Vincent Galea and Alan Zerafa represented the Chircop family.